Eureka weekly sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1887-1902, 1887-12-17
THE CLASS OF 80.
A Composition delivered by One Of
Oar Public School Graduates.

Oar Public School Graduates.
The essay, perspectives, together with
the salutatory address, which we give
below, were written by Miss Louise Los.
chenkohl, and delivered by her June "a,
1857, at the graduation exercises:
s~atUTAToRY.
To-day. we as Seniors, about to sever
our connection with our school days, ex
tend a welcome to these exercises.
To you, benefactors of our youth, who
have presented to US the advantages Of
education which we have enjoyed, who
have to the best of your judgment, to the
utmost Of your power, chosen for US our
instructors, and given us those means
from which we could derive the most
benefit, We offer our sincerest thanks; to
you we extend our kindest greetings.
For you, who have with answering
purpose guided Us through the past,
through the straight path of duty, we
can find no words to express our graft.
tude. Although we may often have fal.
tered by the wayside, and often failed to
profit by your friendly counsel, yet we
trus. that your labors have not been en-.
tirely in vain.
Dear classmates, though joined by com.
mon interests, with anxious longing we
have awaited this parting hour; yet now
we pause and shrink from tearing asun.
der the links of friendship, firm and
strong, which our past associations have
formed. Blessings brighten as they
take their flight" and still we linger at
the brink of the chasm which separates
childhood from manhood aud m
hood, while memory recalls the scenes of
the past, those happy, bygone days,
clouded only by those youthful troubles,
which now seem but like passing shad-
W over a sun.kissed meadow.
Let US hope that in the past the foun'
dation upon which we now will build our
future, has been laid broad and firm, and
when comes the hour of parting from all
earthly joys and sorrows, may it's terrors
be banished by the sweet thoughts that
we were born not only to die again, but
that we have lived, not for ourselves
alone, but for mankind. For, "Ah!
when the dream of life is over, what
would avail all its agitations, if not one
trace of utility remain behind :"
Dear friends, we thank you for your
kind consideration, your presence here
to-day, and extend to you a hearty wei.
come, hoping that you have come, not
as critics but as friends.
PERSPECTIvEs.
From our point of view in the present,
we gaze out toward the c~loud.eucircled
SUBMITS of the future, and back over the
misty plains of the past. In retrospect,
our eye is caught by the works of man,
the color and life in this vista of rsced-
ing years, marking the upward path he
has trod toward his present hight, and
indicating his course into the untraveled
ways beyond.
When recorded history fails to present
the GER OF the past, geology completes
the chain of events, and shows US man
just emerging from the brute level. Man,
n this primitive state, was thrown upon
the world unaided by experience of the
past, without conception of the future.
All that man is, all that he ever will be,
all that he has made himself, he has
evolved by his own exertions from his
infinite power OF mind. Struggling alone
for his existence, his surroundings, the
sensations of pleasure and of pain, left
impressions upon his mind, and ne sought
that which was agreeable to him, and
avoided that to which he was averse.
The pangs of hunger induced him to seek
food. the heat of the sun to find the
grateful shade, and in the Winter he
sought clothing to protect his body from
the cold.
Before man had learned the necessity
Of providing for his future, he lived with
out care, without thought extending be-
You'd the present. Daring the fruitful
seasons Of the year he spent his hours in
ldleness; but repeatedly experiencing the
suffering and privations of the unproduc.
tive months of the year, he sought to al.
Ieviate his pains by the means within his
reach, the simple materials given him by
Nature. A cave was first his home, then
rude huts of logs, and stone marked a
step in advance. He stored up Natures
gifts of the harvest months, that he might
escape the pangs Of hunger, whose tor.
ture had left a lasting impression. His
garments were the skins of beasts, Just
as they were when he stripped them from
his prey.
Labor, when gentle, is the mother OF
all enjoyments; but, if severe, bears only
.vexatlon and pain. When mans exer.
rions to satisfy his physical wants caused
much WEAKNESS, he began to long for
ease, and sought means by which to
tighten his tolls. He domesticated various
some to bear his burdens, and
to supply him food and clothing.
Being possessed of a brain capable of
evolving thought when occasion arose, he
arranged the ideas of the external world,
through his senses, in logical
order. His next impulse then was to
them to his companions. He had
40 words by which to convey his mean.
ing. The only language with which
had endowed him was the power
Of facial expression, involuntary motions
and gestures-the laugh which betrayed
his sensations of Joy, and tears which
his sorrow.
Striving for a more complete method
Of transmitting his ideas, a language of
words suggested by the material objects
n his surroundings, was produced as
as need for certain words arose. He no.
the habits Of various animals, and
the sounds which they made, and when
wished to refer to them. he utilized